Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day
by Seanan McGuire
Reviewed by Galen Strickland
Posted December 3, 2024
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This long novella is one of the few instances of Seanan writing a standalone story. It is a ghost story. Just because I don't believe in ghosts does not mean I can't enjoy a story about them, the same way I can read about vampires, werewolves, or some of the cryptids or Fae Seanan has written about in other stories. Also, since they are imaginary creatures, the way they have been written about can vary from author to author. In this case, people who have died on or near their pre-determined dying day will move on to the afterlife, even if the cause of their death is suicide. But if someone dies accidentally long before their natural death day their ghost will linger. Patty Pace left her home in Mill Hollow, Kentucky for the bright lights of New York. She did not find what she was looking for there. Her life was harsh and troubled, which led to drug use, then she picked up a sharp knife and ended her life. Apparently, that was the time she was supposed to die, even if the cause was not foretold. Her spirit moves on; her ghost does not linger.
Such was not the case for her young sister Jenna. Shortly after Patty's funeral, Jenna runs out of the house in only her nightgown, bare-footed, during a harsh winter storm. She falls into a deep ravine, and into the creek, where she drowns. Her ghost leaves Mill Hollow, heading for New York, in hopes of finding her sister. Over 40 years later Jenna's ghost is still in New York. She is not ethereal, she has a corporeal body, one that can be seen by everyone. People can interact with her, speak to her, even touch her, although most of the time they don't, sensing something off about Jenna. Her appearance is pretty much the way she was just before she died, in her late teen years. The only way for that to change is to steal time from living people, which will age her and give the living extra time. One way she accomplishes that is by volunteering at a suicide prevention hotline. The longer she can keep a caller on the phone, the more time she has to give to someone else, aging an equivalent amount herself. She has met many other ghosts in New York, as well as Brenda, a witch who also ages very slowly. The ghost she most wants to see is Patty, but it is likely that will not happen until she reaches her own dying day.
One of the ghosts Jenna knows is Delia, her landlady, who had died many years before her expected day, decades before her husband died. She came back to him and cared for him until his death, but decided she wanted to remain in the world. They were a childless couple, but she considered all her tenants her children, especially the living ones. She charged just the bare minimum for her ghost tenants, and helped them out in other ways. The ghosts start disappearing from the city, Jenna and Delia apparently the only ones left. It can't be that all reached their rightful death day at the same time. One of the missing ghosts calls Jenna, and while she wonders how he knew her number, she also realizes where he is calling from. Mill Hollow. She and Brenda travel back to Kentucky to find out what is going on and who is responsible.
Not having read that many ghost stories, I'm not sure if something else in this one has been used in others. It involves mirrors, and trapping a ghost inside the glass. It doesn't matter, since the speculative fiction trappings are incidental to telling the story of a girl who had not wasted her life, or her death. Jenna was a caring soul, helpful to all she meets, and for those she talks to on the hotline, whether or not they realize what she has done. The story is about loss and regret, but also hope and anticipation of better days. Remarkable for a girl who had lived so few years to be the one who knew so much about what life was for. Friendships, loyalty, compassion, and love. It took a long time, much longer than Jenna wished, but she finally gets to move on. She will miss her other ghost friends, but reuniting with Patty was worth the long, arduous journey.
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